Kyle S. Minor, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at IUPUI. Dr. Minor received his doctorate from Louisiana State University in 2012. He completed his clinical internship at the Prevention and Recovery in Early Psychosis (PREP) program and his postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Early Detection, Assessment, and Response to Risk (CEDAR), both of which are affiliated with the Massachusetts Mental Health Center and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Minor’s research interests focus on how cognition, language, and affect are linked with symptoms and functioning in populations at different points on the psychosis-spectrum (i.e., Psychometric High Risk, Clinical High Risk, Early Psychosis, Chronic Schizophrenia). To date, Dr. Minor has been the first author or co-author on 25 articles in peer-reviewed journals and has been a part of over thirty presentations at local and national conferences.

Research:

My laboratory focuses on identifying clinical risk markers of psychosis and implementing interventions for individuals at risk for or diagnosed with Schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. In our first line of research, we utilize novel experimental procedures to investigate predictors of Formal Thought Disorder. In previous studies, we have employed behaviorally based process measures of speech to examine the role of atypical semantic activation, working memory, and increased stress in thought disorder, and highlighted how these components affect disorganized speech at different points on the Schizophrenia-spectrum. Ultimately, this research could lead to the discovery of a behavioral endophenotype for Schizophrenia and provide a better understanding of thought disorder’s underlying components.
A second line of research concentrates on treatments designed to improve the severe cognitive deficits observed in Schizophrenia. I am particularly interested in addressing psychosis in the initial stages, as there is substantial evidence that deficits can be reduced when interventions begin early. Currently, my primary focus is centered on cognitive remediation strategies. These approaches have the potential for preventing or delaying cognitive decline in individuals at risk for psychosis and reducing cognitive symptoms in clients with Schizophrenia, which could ultimately pave the way for increased social and occupational functioning.
There are a number of exciting avenues to take both lines of research. Currently, I am interested in: 1) developing ecologically valid assessments of formal thought disorder using process and computerized measures of disorganized speech, 2) integrating process measures of disorganized speech with other measurements of language processing, 3) exploring cognitive enhancement strategies for specific cognitive deficits, and 4) investigating how motivation and stress reactivity affect response to treatment at varying points on the psychosis spectrum.